{"id":16531,"date":"2017-02-25T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T08:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=16531"},"modified":"2017-02-23T15:13:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T15:13:21","slug":"evil-emperor-penguin-strikes-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2017\/02\/25\/evil-emperor-penguin-strikes-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Laura Ellen Anderson<\/strong> (David Fickling Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-910989-87-6<\/p>\n

In January 2012 Oxford-based family publisher David Fickling Books launched an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153old school\u00e2\u20ac\u009d weekly comics anthology (for girls and boys aged 6-12) which aimed to revive the good old days of British picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in its style and content.<\/p>\n

In the years since its premiere, The Phoenix<\/strong> has gone from strength to strength, winning praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the only people who really count – the totally enthralled kids and parents who avidly read it\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The magazine’s pantheon of superbly engaging strips inevitably led to an equally addictive line of graphic novel compilations, the latest of which is a riotous return romp starring a fabulously fearsome feathered arch-fiend and master of scientific wickedness…<\/p>\n

Conceived and created by children’s book illustrator and author Laura Ellen Anderson (Kittens<\/strong>, Snow Babies<\/strong>, My Brother is a Superhero<\/strong> {with David Solomons}), Evil Emperor Penguin<\/em> lurks in a colossal fortress beneath the Antarctic, where he strives tirelessly towards his stated goal of absolute global domination.<\/p>\n

His only assistance – if you can call it that – comes in the form of an army of hench-minions: most notably stylish, erudite administrative lackey Number 8<\/em> and cute, fuzzy, loyal, diminutive, utterly inventive abominable snowman clone Eugene<\/em>.<\/p>\n

E<\/strong>vil E<\/strong>mperor P<\/strong>enguin had originally whipped up a batch of 250, but none of the others are anything like Eugene\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

EEP then appointed the fluffy, bizarrely inventive tyke his Top Minion<\/em> but somehow never managed to instil within him the proper degree of ruthless evilness. The hairy halfwit is, however, a dab-hand with engineering, building stuff and cooking spaghetti hoops, so it’s not a total loss\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following a crucial contents and catch-up page stuck to the bad bird’s Fridge of Evil<\/em> the nefarious nonsense recommences with two-part thriller-chiller ‘I Will Cr\u00c3\u00a8che You’<\/em> in which EEP’s incredible De-Agefying Youth Juice<\/em> causes havoc after Evil Cat<\/em> (insidious rival in the Word Domination stakes) breaks into the citadel and everybody gets a rejuvenating soaking\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Undaunted, the Penguin of Peril then attempts to increase his own stature with a growth ray but doesn’t consider that his top menial might wander in and accidentally become ‘Hugene’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

It’s back to suspenseful two-parters next, as the Barmy Bird decides to digitise and upload himself into the global data net via his Super Computer of Evil<\/em>. Believing supreme power to be in his feathered grasp once he becomes ultimate virus ‘X-Tremevil’<\/em>, EEP is instead ambushed in virtual reality by digital demon virus Trojan the Hunk<\/em>. Luckily Eugene is a dab paw with computer games and comes to his master’s rescue\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sort of\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Back in the physical world again EEP is next subjected to a terrifying surreal assault by feathered scavengers and finds himself ‘Pigeon Holed’<\/em> before ‘Pop Goes the Easel’<\/em> finds him planning an attack on world leaders through the medium of art. Sadly, turning his victims into paintings proves to be a double-edged sword with unexpected repercussions, especially after Eugene tries to help\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Everybody loves cute kittens, which is what Evil Cat’s cousin Debra<\/em> is counting on when she uses soppy Eugene to infiltrate the fortress and steal all the Spaghetti Hoops in ‘What’s New Pussy Cat’<\/em>. With the team – and even Evil Cat – helplessly trapped, they must surrender all pride and dignity and call on jolly unicorn Keith<\/em> to save them in ‘Rainbows to the Rescue’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Without their favourite food, Christmas seems drab and dreary for the entire ice-bound army but when Eugene finds ‘The One Hoop’<\/em> it unleashes a torrent of unexpected emotion to tide the Evil Emperor over even though it ultimately leads to deprivation mania in ‘A New Hoop’<\/em> Part 1\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Deranged and desperate, EEP is only saved after Eugene and Number 8 track down Debra and steal back the vast cache of spaghetti tins in ‘A New Hoop’<\/em> Part 2. Good thing too, as she wasn’t planning on eating them but needed them to power her machine for destroying the world\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

‘Eugene’s Day Off’<\/em> is an unremitting stream of great experiences for the faithful servitor, but, for the Penguin Potentate – having to make do with substandard substitute Neill<\/em> – a string of catastrophic and painful disasters, so it’s no surprise and a total tragedy when EEP’s top flunky is lost on a melting ‘berg after watching a pretty sunset ‘On Thin Ice’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Part 2 then sees the unthinkable occur as the cape-clad malcontent megalomaniac teams up with scintillating Keith the Unicorn to save Eugene from dire deep sea doom\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This gag-filled grimoire of perfidious Penguin plans concludes in high style as a sinister scheme to flood the world with scented candles of distilled Ultimate Evil is thwarted after ‘Essence of Eugene’<\/em> is added to the wax mix, resulting in a global outpouring of warm, fuzzy euphoria\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Rocket-paced, hilariously inventive, wickedly arch and utterly determined to be silly when it most counts, Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back!<\/strong> is a captivating cascade of smart, witty funny adventure, to delight readers of all ages.
\nText and illustrations \u00c2\u00a9 Laura Ellen Anderson 2017. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back!<\/strong> will be released on March 2nd<\/sup> 2017 and is available for pre-order now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Ellen Anderson (David Fickling Books) ISBN: 978-1-910989-87-6 In January 2012 Oxford-based family publisher David Fickling Books launched an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153old school\u00e2\u20ac\u009d weekly comics anthology (for girls and boys aged 6-12) which aimed to revive the good old days of British picture-story entertainment intent whilst embracing the full force of modernity in its style and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42,102,125,97,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-british","category-fantasy","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4iD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}